QUICK REVIEW: Blue Bloods “Hall of Mirrors” S1 E13

03Feb

I really like Blue Bloods. I love the cast, I love the characters. I like the idea that this is a family drama as well as a cop show. There is so much to like about Blue Bloods. That’s why it’s time that I have a little discussion with the show. Blue Bloods: I love you, but you are starting to a get a bit predictable and it’s time to start moving the show to another level or you are going to start to lose people. And even though your audience is loyal and steady, it’s still in mediocre land and you can’t afford to lose viewers.

Each week we have a single case that only Danny and Jackie can solve. Each week, Frank is getting more involved which means whatever he thinks the outcome should be, it is because Frank is never wrong. Each week we have 60-90 seconds of the Blue Templar stuff which doesn’t really shed any information on what is going on. Each week we have the family dinner where Erin and Danny disagree about something and grandpa grunts something grumpily at his family. See what I am getting at here? While it’s good, it’s the same thing every week. They need to start taking some risks here.

Take this week’s case. It’s about a detective who has gone undercover into a terrorist sleeper cell to get information about a terrorist plot against NYC. There is also another undercover cop working in the same cell as well. The detective gets shot and the race is on to see who shot him but more importantly why and they only have 48 hours because the attack is supposed to happen in 2 days. They need to know if he was shot because they found out he was a cop because that could endanger the other cop who is also undercover. Turns out the guy that shot him was just jealous because the girl his family arranged for him to marry doesn’t like him and likes the undercover cop instead but he had no idea he was a cop and the cover is still secure. Danny takes him down and Frank takes down the sleeper cell and the attack is thwarted.

You know what would have been even better, if it turned out the other undercover cop was the one who shot him and the other cop was really undercover AS A COP for the sleeper cell so they can track what the police know from the inside. Now that would have been a great twist! It really would have shaken Frank and Danny and I would have loved to see the fall out from that. But they didn’t go there and went with the nice easy wrap up that makes the Reagans look perfect and all is right with the world. And if you want the cop portion to always be neat and tidy, fine. But then give me something interesting with Erin in the DAs office. Her kissing her boss was a start but then let it go down a sketchy road. Let’s see how her potentially bad choice could negatively affect her family. What a crazy dynamic that would be! And what about this BT? 13 episodes in, I would actually welcome a break from the cop stuff and give me 42 minutes of pure BT history, investigating, people involved, the Reagans involvement, everything. If you want to continue with this, you have to give me something more than Jamie looking at a computer screen for 60 seconds or having a 2 minute conversation (actually being threatened for 2 minutes.) The BT stuff has been so random and sporadic with no consistency that at this point, I don’t even really remember what is going on.

I take my TV shows personally. I know, it’s pathetic, but I do. And when I see a show like this that has amazing potential, I get very frustrated when I see it taking the easy route all the time. It’s fine to ease us in for the first half of your rookie season. In my opinion, it’s the right thing to do. But now it’s time to start letting the foot of the brake. This is a great cast and you have some potentially interesting storylines here that could really make this show pop. It’s time to “go there” Blue Bloods. Take this show out for a spin and show me what it can do. Your viewers are ready!!!